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Re: Robbo's Bees - Photo Blog

Hi Rob,

yes marketing!
I have had an amazing December/Jan with the Brushbox flowering. I averaged more then 30 kg per hive for December alone. One hive filled up the 8 frames I extracted in 4 days. I ran out of time and added another super. I'm teaching this week and will be working OS from the 2. Feb - a busy time in between if the weather holds.
At all the markets I have competition. At my main market - a Farmers Market - I have two other stalls selling honey. One under-cuts me. He is buying from a large producer, not local.
I stick to my pattern - local, rwa, honey in glass, take jars back and give a dollar and have tastings of 3 honeys at the markets. It works. I have a great bunch of customers.

Re: Robbo's Bees - Photo Blog

"Went out to one of my apiary sites for a peek today - It was so hot!!! - Hot and no wind."
Great photos!
It was 36.9C here yesterday in the shade and a few very hot days still ahead.
I wonder if the corrugated iron addes to the discomfor of the bees? The bearding is rather extreme and one theory is that this is the time when the SHB sneek in as fewer bees are inside.
The tempe droped to 23C over night and the bees seem quite comfortable in the morning.
I also ( at least on some hives) put a second roof on for some insulation and shade.

Re: Robbo's Bees - Photo Blog

I took a few piccies this week of some bees wax cleaning that I do here. We get lots of rain so the solar wax melter doesnt go with that. Also with the Small Hive Beetles being so bad this year I find it easier to clean all my cappings up and turn it into wax within a day or 2 of extracting.

Heres how I clean my wax - you commercial fella's can start laughing now - haha - Im still working frame by frame individually and rather than removing a whole super at a time, and I normally extract between 40 and 70 frames each batch so there isnt a great deal of wax for me to deal with each time.

I start with a gravity strainer - A bucket with a Stainless Steel perforated piece in the bottom.

It looks like this with the cappings after it strains out the honey for a few hours

I go 2 parts water and 1 part wax and bring that to the boil with a portable gas cooker.

Re: Robbo's Bees - Photo Blog

Rob...great thread , i worked it backwards . The hive stands are great , the shop is spotless . When i got to the 1st page i watched the vid . Your "that guy " . I couldnt believe it . I watched that vid over and over last yr . I made that frame jig from what i saw and it works great . Do you have spacers inside the box ? Please explain how its made , my cross bars are not tapered . I'd like to thank you ,,you saved me so much time . I did over 1000 frames with it . I'm way too cheap to buy a embedder but another fella from OZ had a vid and i copied his . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRWWl8LeWhU . Its great that your winter is our summer , year around bees . Thanks again and keep posting ...Mike

Re: Robbo's Bees - Photo Blog

Hi Fishman, yea I think a few less hives next year for us. I reckon 25 might be the sweetspot. Am a bit too busy with it all just at this part of the season for it to be enjoyable like usual. Am learnign a lot about working smarter rather that longer/harder.

Jim, I use the sheets for Small Hive beetle. The way I figure it, rather than the grub be able to drop straight in to the ground and turn into a beetle, at least if it has to go on hot tin it might come up against an ant or a bird on the way. We have a chronic beetle supply here so anything that slows them down helps. Its probably not the ideal thing on those really hot days as I am sure there is some reflective heat that the bees wouldnt like.

Cheers Mike, yea thats the best part of our winter is looking ont he internet and seeing how hard you guys are working the bees while Im maintaining my boxes - haha. I'll throw a few photos int he thread of the inside of the box. If there is enough demand for it I'll dimension it off on a drawing or something.

Hi Max - I reckon its not the most efficient way to clean the wax as far as getting every last gram out, but in our busy situation here just at the moment, the yield is still pretty good. Its like 90% instead of 99% yield but the time is under 1/2, and less cleaning etc

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I mentioned above I normally do an extraction batch of 40 to 70 frames at a go. It works out well that figure as I can clean up and then bottle etc relatively easily on my own. Also I have just purchased a 500 litre chest freezer and as the frames come out of the extractor they go into the freezer for 2 days. Freezer has in the pic 6 full depth boxes and a few extra frames so will hold 80 if it needs to.

I turn the freezer on a day before I know I will be robbing the hives so its only on a few weeks of the year at 3-4 days at a time.

Re: Robbo's Bees - Photo Blog

seal62 - here is the way we do the frames ( demonstrated by two of my Willing Workers On Organic farms) known as WWOOFers!
We generally use tacks now rather then nails ( less chance of splitting) and I nail it into the narrow part of the frame - keeps it out of the way when you clean the frame.

Re: Robbo's Bees - Photo Blog

Probably not, but I think its just a small part of the defense while doing it chemical free. Its handy when you drop a hive tool though - easy to find!!

I have lit an incinerator before and dumped in some beetles and larvae from the traps, and after being in the fire for 30 minutes the larvae are still crawling around in there - amazingly tough little buggers.

Re: Robbo's Bees - Photo Blog

Picked up some new trial items today. Will be using these to move honey around in the car when going to markets. These should be a great replacement for the cardboard trays we have been using. These are very stackable which is great!! Have already ordered a few extra sets.

Re: Robbo's Bees - Photo Blog

Hey Robbo,
Those plastic? jars with the yellow lids, how much are they, do you have to purchase a large quantity of them? I give my honey away in washed glass jars, but I am having trouble getting access to them as my wife keeps them for jams etc., so there is never enough of them around. So I'm thinking of buying some cheap glass or plastic jars. I have seen the tubs at the bee places but smaller 500g jars would be my preference. I guess they would hold 375ml approx, maybe my wife would use them too. Do you know if they can be washed in a dishwasher, some of those plastic ones don't like the heat.